Growing Hyper-Performing Teams

1. Growing Hyper-Performing Teams Developing Distributed Scrum Teams into Cohesive "Units” May 2012 Carl Shea & Brian Haughton Agile Center of Excellence Advanced Solutions

2. About Cognizant Technology Solutions • Founded in 1994 as a spin-off of Dun & Bradstreet • Primary business focus is on new development, application maintenance and consulting services • 145,000+ employees • Fortune 500 within 17 years of operations • Market cap of $24 billion • Active Customers: 700+ • 54 global delivery and development centers • Member, Nasdaq-100 Index and Member, S&P 500 Index • In Gartner ‘magic quadrant’ for outsourced services

3. Cognizant Global Footprint

4. Cognizant’s Agile Center of Excellence Cognizant has a growing Agile practice in North America, Europe and India, with new teams in Latin America • Over 50 Agile coaches and over 350 practicing Scrum Masters globally • Extensions of the CoE exist in all industry segments • Cognizant has a extraordinary record of successful delivery of Agile projects • We are at the forefront of how to deliver large, complex Agile projects at F500 clients using co-located, distributed and integrated teams • Cognizant has experience with a range of client requests, from performing a pilot to transforming a F500 enterprise • In 2004 Forrester Research described Cognizant as having a model for how to do distributed Agile successfully • Cognizant’s Agile CoE is part of the Advanced Solutions Group (ASG) and has specific solutions in the following areas to help your client with their specific need: • Readiness Assessments • Consulting & Coaching • Delivery • Training Advanced Solutions Group Leaders in risk mitigation for complex engagements

5. What is a Hyper-Performing Team? The output of the team is greater than the sum of the work of the individuals on the team

6. Scrum Team Stages1 Level 1 Nascent Follow the rule New teams Proficient Level 2 Break the rule Experienced teams High Performing Level 3 BE the rule Hyper-productive teams 1 Much of the material in this first section builds on work by Lyssa Atkins in Coaching Agile Teams and Alastair Cockburn @ http://alistair.cockburn.us/Shu+Ha+Ri

7. Characteristics of the Stages team customizes the practice of scrum staying true to the values and principles team consistently thinks and acts as a cohesive unit Emergent, adaptive properties and punctuated equilibrium are seen in this team Stage 3 team understands the practice of scrum team begins to think and act as a unit personality conflicts are put aside for the betterment of the team team learns to “break the rules” but stay consistent with the values and principles Stage 2 team struggles with the practice of scrum; principles & values seem too theoretical a collection of skilled individuals, learning their roles, the process, & how to work together personality conflicts may arise and could distract the team from their work Stage 1

8. Benefits of pursuing Stage 3 • Hyper-productivity – the team will be able to produce quality software at an amazing rate enabling a faster time to market and lower IT costs • Extremely efficient – the team will efficiently estimate, plan, execute and report progress and impediments • Higher quality – fewer defects will result from their work • Predictable and consistent – their velocity is well known, consistent, and range-bound, allowing for greater confidence in future delivery estimates • Improved morale – members want to work together more for the betterment of the team • Improved stakeholder satisfaction – business sponsors working with these teams will enjoy working with the team

9. Do they EXIST?

10. Cognizant Case Study (2011) Large Insurance and Financial Services Provider Highlights • Large scale Agile development • Increased Scalability and Velocity through “Daikibo Scrum” • Trained and tooled Client IT organization on Agile-Scrum using Rally Software • Enabled Faster time to market Company Overview: Leading global health services and financial company. Provides an integrated suite of healthcare services such as medical, dental, pharmacy and vision care benefits. Has operations in 27 countries and has approximately 60 million customers world-wide Distributed Agile Situation Solution Benefits Client has multiple portals serving various constituents – members, customers, health care professionals and brokers These portals were losing “industry leading” status due to uncoordinated operating model resulting in high call volumes and high support costs Client engaged Cognizant to deliver a “best in class” online experience – A three year program named Online Experience Program to re-platform all the portals Client's mandate was to deliver business capabilities in shorter cycles with on-going feedback from business, internal and external stakeholders Implemented Daikibo℠ Agile Concept teams produce user stories Delivery teams develop the stories SIT-Agile team performing integration testing – in sequential sprints Integrated Rally into the process Implemented customized reporting and instrumentation to measure progress Implemented an effective customized release planning process Agile Training for 100+ people by experienced agile practitioners for quick ramp-up of project teams. Full-time business involvement resulted in an enhanced user experience, which was the primary objective of the program The tools, the people, and the eco-system for the project, including co-location and collaboration between business and IT, created an environment for the teams to experience a rapid rise in velocity Onsite and offshore teams achieved stage 2 (and one achieved stage 3!) to deliver 20% more functionality than originally planned for the release, following the original timeline and budget

11. Cognizant Case Study (details) Keys to Success Custom Rally Reports Full-time business involvement Weekly review with executives Collaborative spirit Balanced consistency with flexibility Teams were allowed to fail in a sprint but felt empowered to own their success Rally enabled transparency and helped us to identify impediments sooner Sprint Velocity

12. Developing hyper-performing scrum teams

13. The Agile Benefits Curve™ Benefits • Higher productivity • Lower costs • Faster time to market • Higher quality • Improved team morale • Improved stakeholder satisfaction hyper-performing teams Achieved by Maturity in Agile has a direct correlation to the benefits received. Inflection point #4: hyper-productive teams reach their potential Peak benefits + bonus benefit: predictability Benefits  Stage 3(4x-12x) Inflection point #1: benefits become positive Inflection point #3: some teams become hyper-productive Substantial benefits Stage 2 (2x-3x) Typical waterfall productivity level Minimal benefits Stage 1 Time  Inflection point #2: teams are experienced and begin to achieve greater velocity Startup investment

14. The Model for Hyper-Productivity Agile Executive Support Agile-friendly Eco-System Agile Team

15. Agile Executive Support • Provide environment for innovation to thrive • Include basic structure and guidance for metrics, reporting, and oversight • Provide latitude and flexibility to Agile teams to support business stakeholders in best way possible • Provide coordination for across-the-board issues • Implement oversight at the senior leadership level • Provide quick-to-the-top escalation path • Operational drive at the portfolio level • Drive the creation of the Agile-friendly eco-system • Identify and discourage anti-Agile behavior Agile Executive Support

16. Establishing the Agile-friendly Eco-system Agile teams: • Composed of 7-10 people • Product owner • Scrum master • Business analysts • Developers • Testers • Treated like a military unit • Deployed to successive projects • Members have a sense of duty • Peer pressure enables cohesion Human Resources Finance Business Leadership ePMO Technical architects UIdesign Agile team SME BusinessUnits Legal Project steward Statistician Agile Governance is required to implement the eco-system Operations Leadership IT Leadership Marketing Operations The closer the role/group is to the agile team, the more they need to modify their own internal processes to support and enable the agile team to achieve their potential. Some level of training/awareness is required for all.

17. The Agile Team • The goals of adopting Agile methods are best realized by the creation of hyper-performing teams. • Hyper-performing levels can only be achieved when the team becomes “one cohesive unit”.

18. Maturity Through Failure? • Must a team fail before they can achieve a hyper-productive state?

19. Key Success Factors to Achieve Stage 3 Caveat: Many teams never achieve Stage 3, and there is no average timeline for a team to achieve the highest stage despite extensive research on this point. Many factors must come together before it is possible. • The scrum team must have no departures or additions for a period of time. • The person in the Product Owner role cannot change on a project. • The team is small; 10 people or less. • The team is empowered to change its process. • The team incorporates the core values in their work. • It’s difficult for a team to reach stage 3 that has not failed at least once. • The team must bond via a difficult challenge (similar to the boot camp experience). • Team members are committed to shared success (i.e. success/failure as a team). • The team is able to stay intact and move from one project to another. • Team members must be hungry to learn, willing to accept change, and eager to experiment with new ideas. • Business and Technology leadership provide necessary support and are helpful in removing impediments.

20. Chemistry and The Metaphor Team chemistry is extremely important. Team Chemistry = rapport between individual team members. It’s the glue that enables the team to deliver. Company culture = team chemistry multiplied across many teams and orgs For a team to progress toward stage 3 – the Scrum team should be like a SEAL combat team. • A combat team may be composed of specialists (like an explosives expert or expert marksman) and/or generalists (like a rifleman), but everyone is on the team for a specific purpose. • Each team member must support the others for the mission to succeed. • The drive to succeed for a common goal increases group cohesion. • Peer pressure pushes individuals to perform their best. Peer Pressure is always greater than Management Pressure

21. Distributed Scrums? • Must Agile teams work in the same room, face-to-face every day for the project to succeed? NO • The key is the rapport between the team members, regardless of geographical separation. Emotional distance is the problem – not physical distance. • With good rapport, location transparency can be achieved. • Can a fully distributed scrum team be just as productive as a scrum team in the same room? • Can large enterprise implementations with fully distributed Scrum teams be just as productive as one with all teams in the same location? • Who says so? • Tom Grant of Forrester Research published his independent findings at the Agile Alliance 2010 conference. • Jeff Sutherland published his findings in The Scrum Papers, 2010, pp. 88-104, calling it the “integrated scrum team” model. YES! YES!

22. Best Practices for Distributed Agile Teams KEYS TO SUCCESS: build rapport, support each other, talk daily, and be social • When a distributed team is first formed… • Attend jumpstart training together in-person • Use the introduction brochure technique • Name the team and decide on a mascot • Discuss the values • Host the entire team onsite (or offsite!) to build rapport • When they start a new project • At least once per year (the 360+5 plan) • Use video conferencing whenever possible • Plan for and perform a cultural exchange with each location • Celebrate exchanged holidays – Indians celebrate Thanksgiving; Americans celebrate Diwali • Learn words in the native language of other team members • Take pictures of team members and post them on the wall at each location • Use the man-in-the-air technique to build rapport • Create the team celebration plan • Spend time together away from the office – playing, performing or watching events with a common interest • Provide incentives through friendly competition with other teams • Use a best-in-class ALM toolset • Allow the team to fail (in a sprint) when they overcommit

23. Thank you Brian.Haughton@cognizant.com Carl.Shea@cognizant.com

24. Sutherland Case Study of SirsiDynix* (2005) • Documented as distributed integrated Scrums that achieved a hyper-productive state • Results • Proved that a large enterprise project (56+ developers) run with distributed integrated Scrums can be as productive as a small co-located Scrum team • Proved to be 8X more productive than a parallel project performed with Waterfall, resulting in “…more functionality and higher quality.” • Characteristics • 2 week sprints, with a few use cases but most as user stories • Teams in Provo Utah and St Petersburg Russia, with a few key individuals working from Seattle, Denver, St Louis and Waterloo Canada • Used Jira/Greenhopper for their ALM • Best Practices • Daily scrum team meetings from multiple sites • Daily meetings of Product Owners • Automated builds from one central repository • No distinction between team members at different sites • Followed sound engineering practices constantly • Seamless integration of some XP practices, refactoring, continuous integration, limited pair programming on most complex technical components * Sutherland Scrum Papers, Distributed Scrum: Agile Project Management with Outsourced Development Teams, 2010, pp. 88-104

25. Daily Report – Customized Rally

26. Becoming One Cohesive Team Principles & Practices: • The team succeeds or fails together • Everyone is on the team for a specific purpose • Everyone is expected to “pull their weight” • Everyone is expected to have a shared sense of duty and purpose • Exercise the strengths of the individuals of the team, and work to minimize the weaknesses • If one team member becomes “stuck,” other team members have a responsibility to help them – to the best of their ability and skill • If the team fails to meet their commitment, they are expected to learn from their failure and adapt • There is no change in team composition or structure for an extended duration • The team should expect to be “deployed” to successive projects, one after another Properties of a Hyper-performing Team Achieved by

27. Dealing with Failure Executives and management must understand the model, and the consequences of their actions. • Failure of one sprint is ok – maybe even a good thing for the team. • A failure trend is not good. A Coach should be brought in to assess the situation.